Naughty Dog Next Game Announcement Being Delayed by Studio to Prevent Crunch

naughty dog next game

Studio head Neil Druckmann has stated that Naughty Dog is delaying properly announcing its next game to prevent crunch issues and allow more flexibility with the release schedule, learning from experiences during the development of previous titles.

With development crunch (high-pressure overtime work to meet release schedules) now a growing industry-wide issue, a number of gaming studio bosses have publicly denounced the practice in recent times. Having announced hotly-anticipated titles year in advance in the past (The Last of Us 2 was announced over three years before release), Druckmann is opting to reveal little about Naughty Dog’s next project until closer to launch:

You’re right, we did announce Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us Part 2 way in advance, but that actually caused a little bit of the work-life balance issues that we’ve sometimes had at the studio. By delaying that announcement a bit, we could play with the schedule more and we’re more conscious now about how we’re approaching production. So there’s our [The Last of Us] multiplayer project and there’s another project that I will not say anything about that’s beyond that that we’re also very much excited for.”

While the formal announcement may be quite some time away, we do know that Naughty Dog’s next game will be “structured more like a TV show” than any of its previous titles. The studio recently shared a new piece of concept art for its The Last of Us multiplayer game, and the HBO adaptation of the original title premieres next Sunday.

Source: ComicBook

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